Ghana loses nine spots, stands at 87th as economy ranks worst in 2012 Global Prosperity Index

Ghana has dropped in its position as a prosperous country. The country lost nine places to rank 87th out of 142 nations in the 2012 Global Prosperity Index released by the Legatum Institute October 30, 2012.

Ghana ranked 78 out of 110 countries in the 2011 edition and 90 in 2010.

Ghana’s best ranking on the 2012 Index was in Freedom where it placed 39th. The Ghana’s worst ranking was in the area of economy. The country placed placed 111st.

As compared to the 2011 edition where Ghana placed third in sub-Saharan Africa, the country this time dropped to the fourth place after Botswana, South Africa and Namibia who took the first, second and third position in the region respectively.

Legatum Institute’s prosperity index, now in its sixth year, assesses global wealth and wellbeing and benchmarks 142 countries around the world in eight categories – Economy, Education, Entrepreneurship and opportunity, Governance, Health, Personal freedom, Safety and security and Social capital

In terms of entrepreneurship and opportunity, Ghana placed 101st as compared to the 2011 edition’s 85th.

According to Legatum, 68.5% of Ghanaians have confidence in the government while 77.6% of the population has confidence in the country’s judicial system. In that sense, the index ranked Ghana 54th in terms of governance as compared to the 51st place in the 2011 Index.

On other areas Ghana was ranked 104th in Education as against 94th in 2011, Health (99th) compared to 87th in 2011, Safety & security (67th) against 2011’s 55th and Social capital (94th) compared to 71st in 2011.

Norway topped the index while Central African Republic was last.

The Institute sourced its data from Gallup World Poll, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Development Indicators, GDP, World Intellectual Property Organization, UN Human Development Report, World Bank, OECD and World Values Survey.

By Ekow Quandzie

See Ghana’s scores in 2012 Global Prosperity Index